The origins of the War of 1812 (1812–1815), between the United States and the United Kingdom's British Empire and their First Nation allies, have been long debated. Multiple factors led to the US declaration of war on Great Britain that began the War of 1812:Jasper M. Trautsch, "The Causes of the War of 1812: 200 Years of Debate," Journal of Military History (Jan 2013) 77#1 pp. 273-293.
Trade restrictions introduced by the UK under the orders in council of 1807 to impede trade with France, with whom Britain was at war (the US contested the restrictions as illegal under contemporary international law).Caffery, pp. 56–58 The impressment (forced recruitment) of seamen on US vessels into the British Royal Navy (men whom Britain claimed were British subjects). British military support for American Indian tribes who were offering armed resistance against the US expansion of the American frontier in the Northwest Territory. A possible desire by the US to annex some or all of Canada.Caffery, pp. 101–104 US desire to uphold national honor in the face of what they considered to be British insults, such as the Chesapeake affair.Norman K. Risjord, "1812: Conservatives, War Hawks, and the Nation's Honor." William And Mary Quarterly 1961 18(2): 196–210. in JSTOR
American expansion into the Northwest Territory (now Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and northeast Minnesota) was impeded by Native American raids. Some historians maintain that an American goal in the war was to annex some or all of Canada, a view many Canadians still share. However, many argue that inducing the fear of such a seizure was merely an American tactic, which was designed to obtain a bargaining chip.Bowler, pp. 11–32
Some members of the British ParliamentGeorge Canning, Address respecting the war with America, Hansard (House of Commons), 18 February 1813 and dissident American politicians such as John Randolph of Roanoke claimed that American expansionism, rather than maritime disputes, was the primary motivation for the American declaration of war. That view has been retained by some historians.J. C. A. Stagg (1983), Mr Madison's War, p. 4
Although the British made some concessions before the war on neutral trade, they insisted on the right to reclaim their deserting sailors. The British also had long had a goal to create a large "neutral" Native American state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. They made the demand as late as 1814 at the Ghent Peace Conference, but they lost battles that would have upheld those claims.Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea" Northwest Ohio Quarterly 1989 61(2–4): 46–63Francis M. Carroll, A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, 1783–1842, 2001, p. 23
British goals The UK's British Empire was engaged in a life-and-death war against Napoleon Bonaparte's France and believed it could not allow the Americans to help the enemy through trade, regardless of their lawful rights as neutrals to do so. As Horsman explained, "If possible, England wished to avoid war with America, but not to the extent of allowing her to hinder the British war effort against France. Moreover... a large section of influential British opinion, both in the government and in the country, thought that America presented a threat to British maritime supremacy."Horsman (1962) p. 264
Defending British North America According to Historian Andrew Lambert, the defense of British North America was Britain's primary goal: "The British had no interest in fighting this war, and once it had begun, they had one clear goal: keep the United States from taking any part of Canada". Britain's policy was to effect the end of the war, through continuous campaigning, which would influence the people of the United States and government policy.
Defeating Napoleon All parties were committed to the defeat of France, which required sailors and thus impressment, as well as all-out commercial war against France, which caused the restrictions that were imposed on American merchant ships. On the question of trade with America, the British parties split. As Horsman argues, "Some restrictions on neutral commerce were essential for England in this period. That this restriction took such an extreme form after 1807 stemmed, not only from the effort to defeat Napoleon, but also from the undoubted jealousy of America's commercial prosperity that existed in England. America was unfortunate in that, for most of the period from 1803 to 1812, political power in England was held by a group that was pledged not only to the defeat of France, but also to a rigid maintenance of Britain's commercial supremacy."Horsman (1962) p. 265 That group was weakened by Whigs, friendly to the US in mid-1812, and the policies were reversed, although the US had already declared war. By 1815, Britain was no longer controlled by politicians dedicated to commercial supremacy and so that cause had vanished.
The British were hindered by weakened diplomats in Washington, such as David Erskine, who were unable to represent a consistent British policy, and by communications that were so slow that the Americans did not learn of the reversal of policy until they had declared war.
Americans proposed a truce based on the British ending impressment, but the latter refused because they believed they needed those sailors. Horsman explained, "Impressment, which was the main point of contention between England and America from 1803 to 1807, was made necessary, primarily, because of England's great shortage of seamen for the war against Napoleon. In a similar manner, the restrictions on American commerce imposed by England's Orders in Council, which were the supreme cause of complaint between 1807 and 1812, were one part of a vast commercial struggle being waged between England and France."
Creation of an Indian barrier state between the US and Canada The British also had the long-standing goal of creating an Indian barrier state, a large "neutral" Indian state that would cover most of the Old Northwest to be a barrier between the Western US and Canada. It would be independent of the US and under the tutelage of the British, who would use it to block American expansionism and to build up their control of the fur trade.Dwight L. Smith"A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 61#2-4 (1989): 46-63.
The British continued to make that demand as late as 1814, during the Ghent Peace Conference. However, they dropped the demand since their position had been weakened by the collapse of Tecumseh's Confederacy after the Battle of the Thames. Also, they simply no longer considered the goal to be worth war against the US, although much of the proposed buffer state had remained largely under British and Indian control throughout the war. However, Britain insisted on including the right for Indians to return to lands they had lost after 1811, which was included in clause IX, even though Britain had doubts that this would be upheld by America.
American goals There were several immediate stated causes for the American declaration of war:
A series of trade restrictions, the Orders in Council (1807), were introduced by Britain to impede American trade with France, which was at war with Britain. The US contested those restrictions as illegal under international law. The impressment (forced recruitment) of US citizens into the Royal Navy. The British military support for American Indians, who were offering armed resistance to the US. An unstated but powerful motivation by the US was the need that was felt to uphold national honor in the face of British insults, such as the Chesapeake affair. A possible US desire to annex Canada.
British support for Indian raids
Indians based in the Northwest Territory, now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had organized in opposition to American settlement and were being supplied with weapons by British traders in Canada. Britain was not trying to provoke a war and, at one point, cut its allocations of gunpowder to the tribes, but it was trying to build up its fur trade and friendly relations with potential military allies.Mark Zuehlke, For Honour's Sake: The War of 1812 and the Brokering of an Uneasy Peace (2006) pp. 62–62 Britain had ceded the area to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783) but had the long-term goal of creating a "neutral" or buffer Indian state in the area to block further American growth.Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea", Northwest Ohio Quarterly (1989) 61 (2–4): 46–63. The Indian nations generally followed Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet and the brother of Tecumseh. Since 1805, he had preached his vision of purifying his society by expelling the "Children of the Evil Spirit" (the American settlers).Timothy D. Willig. Restoring the Chain of Friendship: British Policy and the Indians of the Great Lakes, 1783–1815 (2008) p. 207.
According to Pratt, There is ample proof that the British authorities did all in their power to hold or win the allegiance of the Indians of the Northwest with the expectation of using them as allies in the event of war. Indian allegiance could be held only by gifts, and, to an Indian, no gift was as acceptable as a lethal weapon. Guns and ammunition, tomahawks and scalping knives were dealt out with some liberality by British agents.Julius W. Pratt, A history of United States foreign-policy (1955) p 126
Raiding grew more common in 1810 and 1811. Westerners in Congress found the raids intolerable and wanted them to be permanently ended.David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 (1997) pp. 253, 504Zuehlke, For Honour's Sake, p 62
American expansionism Historians have considered the idea that American expansionism was one cause of the war. The American expansion into the Northwest Territory (now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin) was being blocked by Indians, which was a major cause animating the Westerners. The American historian Walter Nugent, in his history of American expansionism, argues that expansion into the Midwest "was not the only American objective, and indeed not the immediate one area but it was an objective."Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansionism (2009), ch. 3, quoted on p. 73.
Annexation
More controversial is whether an American war goal was to acquire Canadian lands, especially what is now Western Ontario, permanently or whether it was planned to seize the area temporarily as a bargaining chip. The American desire for Canada has been a staple in Canadian public opinion since the 1830s and was much discussed among historians before 1940 but has since become less popular. The idea was first developed by historian Louis M. Hacker and refined by the diplomatic specialist Julius Pratt.Hacker (1924); Pratt (1925). Goodman (1941) refuted the idea, and even Pratt gave it up. Pratt (1955)
In 1925, Pratt argued that Western Americans were incited to war by the prospect of seizing Canada.Julius W. Pratt, "Western Aims in the War of 1812." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1925): 36-50. in JSTOR Pratt's argument supported the belief of many Canadians, especially in Ontario, where fear of American expansionism was a major political element, and the notion still survives among Canadians.W. Arthur Bowler, "Propaganda in Upper Canada in the War of 1812," American Review of Canadian Studies (1988) 28:11–32; C.P. Stacey, "The War of 1812 in Canadian History" in Morris Zaslow and Wesley B. Turner, eds. The Defended Border: Upper Canada and the War of 1812 (Toronto, 1964)